The best thing about a person’s day can be so many things. What’s the best thing to me, may seem insignificant to someone else. It really doesn’t matter what the “thing” is it matters that it is acknowledged. For me, the best thing was that I got right back on plan. I didn’t spiral into a binge, and I didn’t make the decision to put this goal of weight loss away on a shelf until after the holidays. That’s the best thing for me today.
I read a blog post that made me think today, Running 4Meyer called Baby Steps Are Boring. It made me think about all the little things I have done to set up the strong habits that are helping me today.
Beginnings are hard because there are not any results yet – just the hope it will work. Hope is essential to the process of weight loss but so is discipline. Saying “No thank you…” to tempting foods (especially when I’m stressed) is not so easy. It has a lot to do with my “baby steps” that laid the foundation I rely on to make weight loss happen.
I say, celebrate it all. Celebrate the crawling it takes before you take that first step! Today I am rolling over 4 SmartPoints. Woo Hoo! I did not get into spin class for 5;15 am. I was Waitlisted so I withdrew my name. I’m going to try to go after work. I’m not sure if I can pull that off but I’m going to try. Step-by-step I can do this and so can you.
Sometimes I have to push myself to get past the barrier that separates productivity and procrastination. I’m a pro at both. However, today was good day. I accomplished my goals and that is a relief.
Another positive for today was that I kept my cool and got rid of some foods that were tempting me. It feels so good to just say, “No” sometimes and to make that “No” stick. Sometimes it feels like old habits and new habits are competing inside my head and that is when I have a choice to make. If I think about the cookies, I find, I choose the cookies. If I think about how healthy my body is now I choose health.
In many ways I think the key to weight loss is that we are what we think. It has become very important for me to reflect on what I want and why it’s important over the course of this journey. The more I reflect the great my resolve becomes.
I tell myself every day that I can do this. I can be the exception to the rule. I can beat the odds and be that person who loses a lot of weight and maintains that weight loss. I wonder what do you tell yourself? If you are looking for a tip, I find, it helps to write your reflections down. A journal, a scrapbook, a sketchbook, a blog are all ways to get your thoughts out of your head and make this process more visible.
Tomorrow is weigh-in I might be out of that two pound range. I will be disappointed if I am, but I don’t want to dwell on that. My last words for tonight, be proud of everything you’ve accomplished because you made those things happen. You. You are amazing.
There are times when I wish I could just start over and “do over” some of my choices. Today is one of those days. I started out strong, I went to spin at 5:15 am and that was awesome. I packed my breakfast and lunch and both were very good. Then during professional development, I started thinking about having a piece of candy, but I decided not to eat one.
After that, it all went downhill. I made poor choices, and I picked on foods while I was making dinner. I ate late and then I had dessert. Now I feel sick to my stomach. I plan on drinking a glass of water, brushing my teeth and going to bed. Tomorrow is a new day to start over. That’s the way it goes sometimes. I really don’t want to beat myself up, but I also don’t want to ignore the tendency to overdo it when it comes to food.
What can learn from today? I still need strategies when I find myself reaching for food. I am underestimating how stress affects me because I had a couple of stressful moments today and clearly the food was an attempt to elevate some of that negativity. So tomorrow, if I I feel this same tug of wanting to eat when I’m not hungry – I will engage the internal/external hunger exercise that has been so helpful in the past. I will also eat more mindfully.
I’ll let you know how it goes. I hope you had a good day on the journey. If you didn’t don’t give up!
There is no doubt that we are living in a stressful world. There is always plenty of bad news, hurt feelings, and depressing images. It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed at each flip of a page, turn of a channel, or click on a screen because we are innodated with constant unyielding information. Know what I mean?
It turns out, the antidote to this crazed harried existence, we all seem to be living, is within the auspice of our own control. Practicing mindfulness is where it’s at. When I started to read a little more about this practice I realized that I have stumbled onto these practices in my effort to get to goal.
The following list names the markers of practicing mindfulness and how they were revealed through my weight loss journey.
I share these thoughts because I want to help others achieve their goals. I do believe that we all have the power to transform ourselves. However, there is not one right path, it’s understanding your path because you are the path.
Professional learning and election day go hand-in-hand when you are a teacher. Today, I facilitated training for our district’s Teacher’s Assistants. It was a full house! It is very gratifying to work so hard and be rewarded with the collective wisdom and compassion of dedicated others. Our support staff is an amazing group of caring people who really want to get it right.
One of the topics I presented today was about empathy…
I guess I bring this up here because I really do understand the struggles and the joys that come with a weight loss journey I can tell you every time a member at one of my #WW workshop sessions shares a success I feel real happiness. When a member shares that times are rough, I can connect with those darker feelings too. It just helps knowing I don’t have to do this all by myself. Neither do you. Some days are more difficult than others but you don’t have to go it alone. We can help each other along the way. Let’s do this! We are stronger together. Make tomorrow a great day.
I am .4 pounds away from goal!
I am so close. During the workshop, many members shared how our time and support system is what is helping them to stay on track. I completely agree. This is a challenge but it can be done.
The other day a colleague told me that when she saw me in the hallway she didn’t recognize me. She looked at me with astonishment because I have been so transformed. In many ways I am different but on the other hand, in some important ways, I’m exactly the same. I had a piece of lemon pound cake after lunch today, and I immediately wanted another slice. I actually stood with my hand on the refrigerator and told myself, “No. No more, you’re done. You already know what it tastes like, and you don’t need anymore.” This worked today. I walked away from the refrigerator.
So even after all these weeks of care and attention, I am still vulnerable to overeating. It’s ok because knowing that about myself actually helps me. Honest reflection makes this possible. I am in this for life and I am grateful that I am learning more about myself.
I began the day at spin class and spent the rest of it working.
I went to the library and worked for hours. When I came home, I wanted to do something before making dinner. So I took Sadie for a walk. She loved it…
For dinner, we made Birdballs homemade tomato sauce and pasta. I had two slices of bread, it was really delicious ciabatta bread from my favorite bakery. Well worth the extra points. Also, the birdballs are very satisfying and are a nice change. I’m glad I took the time to make and enjoy dinner. It helps.
Anyway, that’s it for today. Tomorrow will be challenging because I did not get to go food shopping (too busy working). So, I’ll have to get up a little earlier to make a plan. Making a plan is the thing that keeps me on plan.
It was raining heavily when I left my house at 4:50 am to go to spin class. Even though it was hard to leave the house on a dark and stormy morning, it was worth it. Looking back on today, it feels great knowing I took that time for myself. I had a lot of energy, I wasn’t so hungry as I’ve been over the past three days, and I got to be around positive like minded people. Activity helps on a lot of different levels. I feel accomplished because I could complete the workout. Now that I use a heart monitor, I challenge myself to control my recovery time and I can see that I’m getting better at that. I enjoy my instructors and it’s just a fun thing to do.
I don’t know if tomorrow, Day Three Hundred Eighty-Eight, will be the day that I reach goal. I don’t even want to jinx myself since it was a rough week. I am ending with a balance of -14 SmartPoints. Five out of seven days were “blue dot” days so that’s pretty good. The important thing is that I tracked, weighed, and measured my foods. I found some resilience when I really needed it yesterday, and I made my goal of working out this morning. These are all good examples of NSV’s. This is what WW is all about and if you’re really ready to dedicate some time to weight loss and wellness you should join us.
Either way, I’ll let you know tomorrow. Wish me luck.
I didn’t make my goal of rolling over four points. I had pizza for dinner and went over. Then I had a low-fat ice-cream cone and went over even more.
I know I am the kind of person who will always have to be vigilant about watching my weight. I was really disappointed about tracking the pizza, and then the cone tonight. It was upsetting to see the number go up on my app and that’s the truth. I believe tracking is a very important habit to cultivate. s what helps me to make my next move. Tomorrow will be a better day.
Getting to Goal 